Harvard May Ease Rules on Drug Companies

Published 8:00 pm, Sunday, June 8, 2003

Harvard Medical School is considering relaxing its policies restricting financial ties between faculty researchers and private drug companies, a review that comes as pharmaceutical giants are relocating some research operations to the Boston area.

Harvard's current policy, considered among the toughest in the nation, forbids its researchers from owning more than $20,000 of stock in companies that finance research in their labs. They also cannot receive more than $10,000 in consulting fees from those companies or spend more than 20 percent of their time on non-Harvard research.

"There are people who are very unhappy" about the current limits, Harvard Medical School's associate dean for faculty affairs, Margaret Dale, told The Boston Globe for Monday's editions. But she said within the faculty "there are people on all sides of the spectrum."

Two faculty committees charged with reviewing the policy are scheduled to make their recommendations on June 26.

Proponents of changing the policy, including some faculty members and drug company officials, say relaxing limits on financial ties would speed up the conversion of scientific discoveries into lifesaving medicines by rewarding the faculty members.

But others at the medical school and some medical ethicists support the current policy, saying it sends an important message about minimizing corporate influence over academic research.

"Others look to (Harvard) as the standard of integrity in science. If they start to lower the bar, they would be tarnishing their standards of integrity," said Tufts University science policy analyst Sheldon Krimsky.

Harvard considered a policy change four years ago, but the sudden death of a subject in a University of Pennsylvania medical trial, persuaded Harvard's medical dean to leave the policy untouched and call for a national dialogue on the issue. Jesse Gelsinger, 18, was killed after a gene therapy experiment and it was later revealed that one of the researchers involved had financial ties to a company that could profit from the research.

As drug makers Novartis, Merck, and Pfizer set up operations near the school, Harvard officials expect informal contacts and formal ties between medical school researchers and companies.

"Ideally, there's going to be a cross-fertilization of ideas," said Harvard Medical School's associate dean for research, Susanne Churchill, who would like to see frequent joint seminars and workshops with Novartis.

She said the medical school must decide on a conflict-of-interest policy that balances industry needs while protecting academic freedom. "This is an incredible opportunity, if we can figure out how to reach out," she said.